Last updated: Nov 12, 2025, 12:41 PM
| Pre-authorization is not available to customers outside of the US at this time. |
Give your guests a fast, easy, and contactless way to start a tab and order rounds without leaving their seats or flagging down a server. Guests can easily scan a QR code to browse the menu, order, and pay, all from their mobile devices. Plus, with Apple Pay, guests can pay in less than 10 seconds. Once a guest has started a tab on Toast Mobile Order & Pay®, the server can add items to the same tab from a Toast Go® or POS device for flexible and continuous service.
Once the guest scans the QR code, they will enter their name and phone number and then be able to view the menu. Once they are ready to order, they will be prompted to enter their credit card information. The card will then receive a pending charge of $0.01. After they order and pay, the guest will be charged the full amount on the tab, and the pending charge on the card will go away. If they want to add items to their tab and order more food or drinks, they can navigate to their tab via the SMS link sent to their phones.
There are currently two versions of this feature available: Tabs and Pre-authorized tabs.
Note: To use preauthorized tabs, you must also enable standard tabs.
In addition, we strongly encourage enabling the group order feature in addition to standard and preauthorized tabs. This will allow multiple guests to join a single standard or preauthorized tab from their own device, and then submit orders to the kitchen all at once. To learn more about this feature, scroll down to the following section in this article.
If a restaurant changes the minimum pre-authorization amount in the Payment Options page in Toast's back-end to anything other than $0.01, Toast Mobile Order & Pay's pre-authorization amount will not change. This is because there is a smaller chance of a guest not being able to pay for a walkout. If you would like to adjust this amount, please contact Customer Care for assistance.
You can also toggle on the ability to use pre-authorization with the Gather payment details upfront, or allow for Group ordering toggles.
Congratulations! You've successfully enabled Tabs for guests using Toast Mobile Order & Pay®. Now, it's up to your staff to welcome guests and familiarize them with the ordering process.
Not sure how to message this new feature to guests? Check out our .
Learn more about Tabs for Order & Pay in our .
If your guests would like to reorder an item they have previously ordered on their open tab, like a cocktail or second order of chips, they can select the link texted to their phone number and follow one of the three ways below:
Note: At this time, guests can only reorder items from their current tab, not from previous orders.